Hi All,
I don’t normally post on here, but I figured I would share my experience regarding this game since not many people have been able to play it as of yet. My wife and I have played both WOZ and Hobbit, so we were very eager to experience Dialed In. Automated held an open house for Dialed In; however, we couldn’t make it up to CT that Saturday due to a work obligation. April (of Automated) came through for us and offered to let us come up during the week and play the machine. My wife had to work, so I made the trip myself. Truthfully, I was able to play the machine for almost two hours without interruption. Take it for what it’s worth, but this was my experience:
--This game grew on me the more I played it. The layout made for some smooth, fast shots and this particular machine felt great.
--The way the “train” ramps are set up is reminiscent of RCT and they were fun to hit. Yes, there was some challenge, but fun MM challenge (not Avengers challenge).
--I thought the drones would be more integral to the gameplay—and maybe they will be in later updates. As of now they simply light up and the propellers spin when that shot is activated.
--The theater seems to be nothing more than the JJP response to the GBLE Ecto-Goggles. It was neat, but not necessarily a game changer.
--The cell phone mounted in the game was more key to understanding the game than the backbox LCD—I loved this part of the game.
--The game really does look great. A little scary though, was the wear that the the playfield was showing at the scoop hole. Not sure how many plays were on this machine, but the wear was pretty obvious.
--The rule set is still in the early stages, but offered cool objectives that almost made for an AFM-like “Okay, I need to try this one more time.” Some of the disaster modes could take a while to beat. Multi-ball also took some time to get because of the stages of turning “power” on, etc.
--Even though it was supposed to be the “wow” factor for this game, the Bluetooth cell phone connectivity seemed rather over redundant to me. JJP had a sample cellphone with the game and it had to be placed on the glass (over the apron) in order for it to work. The cellphone, as of now, could be used to do three things: launch the ball, activate either flipper, or activate the shaker. Honestly, I didn’t use the cell phone other than to launch the ball a few times or activate the shaker when I saw the ball headed for a SDTM drain. I think there is a ton of potential for this technology, but it’s obviously still in the early stages.
--The selfie feature of the game could be really cool. I think it was disabled on this machine so it only made the camera sound, but didn’t display any images. I have to imagine that this would be a lot of fun once it is activated.
I really enjoyed the game and hope to play it again sometime soon!